John Jay Colleges Discusses Their Online Bookstore Success

The John Jay College of Criminal Justice hosted the 13th Annual CUNY IT Conference last week, and we were thrilled to sit in on their panel, Beyond the Physical Bookstore: Realizing the John Jay College Online Bookstore.

During the panel discussion, Robert Pignatello, Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration at John Jay College, discussed the diminishing returns of a brick and mortar school bookstore for both students and for the college itself. A textbook savings committee was formed and extensive research was done to investigate options and uncover needs.

The committee found that 77% of students surveyed stated they might not buy textbooks for one or more of their classes due to the high cost of materials. Pignatello and his team realized that it was “time to do something dramatic to reduce textbook costs.”

In just 2 short months, John Jay and the CUNY system worked with Akademos to develop an integrated online shopping experience for students. During the summer and fall 2014 terms, the new John Jay Online Bookstore saved students over $150,000 off of publisher list price. Students took advantage of all available purchasing options — new, used, rental & eBook — to score deep discounts in the Marketplace. The average cost per Marketplace purchase was less than $20.

Additional features of the John Jay Online Bookstore include:

Customized course list – Students can login to the online college bookstore with their CUNYfirst credentials to view a personalized list of all courses they are registered for

Convenient on-campus pick up – Orders placed through the online bookstore may be eligible for to be shipped directly on-campus for secure and convenient retrieval.

Year-round buyback – Students can sell their textbooks and course materials back at any time, and can name their own buy-back price on the Marketplace.